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Speak

After a trauma over the summer that she’s trying to forget, Melinda Sordino (Kristen Stewart) becomes a selective mute. As she struggles with high school, broken friendships and her family, slowly she revisits what happens to her and tries to speak out.

Melinda is a teenager who has gone through a traumatic experience and really doesn’t know how to communicate what is going on in her head. While everyone else leaves her to get lost in her own head, her art teacher Mr Freeman (Steve Zahn) encourages her to express herself through her art. They have a sort of respect for each other and the art room becomes a place of sanctuary for her.

Speak is a great film because all the relationships are believable. Melinda’s parents Joyce (Elizabeth Perkins) and Jack (D.E. Sweeney) both don’t know what’s made Melinda so quiet but they don’t know how to push her to open up and at the same time they are both busy with their own lives that they don’t pay as much attention to her as they probably should. It’s not malicious, it’s just life. The way that teenage friendships can just fall apart is also handled-well. Suddenly people can go from one friendship group to a clique within a blink of an eye, that’s what happened to Melinda and she’s now on the outside looking in.

Speak is a phenomenal film. It’s the kind of film that showcases acting, direction and scriptwriting and shows that you don’t need a huge budget, just some talented people to make a film that can pack an emotional punch. Kristen Stewart is amazing as Melinda, there’s a scene where she locks herself in her closet and screams which makes your hair stand on end.

Speak is a powerful and inspiring drama and is the kind of film everyone should watch. 5/5.